Thursday, April 5
As Seventh-day Adventists, we carry in our name so much of what we stand for. The Seventh-day part represents the seventh-day Sabbath, which points to our belief, not just in that one commandment alone but, by implication, our belief in all ten. The Adventist part points to our belief in the second advent of Jesus, a truth that can exist only because of what Christ did with His atoning death at His first advent. Hence, our name Seventh-day Adventist points to two crucial and inseparable components of present truth: the law and the gospel.
How do these texts indicate just how closely linked the law and the gospel are?
The gospel is good news, the good news that though we have sinned in that we have broken God’s law, through faith in what Christ did for us at the cross we can be forgiven our sins, for our transgression of His law. Also, we have been given the power to obey that law, fully and completely.
No wonder then that, in the context of the last days, as the great controversy rages in special ferocity, God’s people are depicted in a very specific manner.
Read Revelation 14:12. How does this text reveal the link between the law and the gospel?
As Seventh-day Adventists, a people who believe in obedience to God’s law, how can we show others that obedience to the law is not legalism but is a natural outgrowth of loving God and being saved by Him? How do texts like Deuteronomy 11:1 and 1 John 5:3 buttress this point?
